Air conditioner



March 14, 1939.

C. C. HUNICKE AIR CONDITIONER Filed April 19, 1955 m VINVEQITOE .1 BY 5,

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES AIR CONDITIONER Clarence C. Hunicke, Palisade, N. 3., assignor to Auditorium Conditioning Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Application April 19, 1935, Serial No. 17,239

3 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for conditioning air.

In the conditioning of air wherein the temperature and humidity is controlled, one of the methods of removing humidity is to contact air to be conditioned with cold surfaces whereby condensation will take place, then by either reheating or mixing with warm air or recirculated air the temperature is raised the desired amount with the desired relative humidity.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for conditioning air by contact thereof with heat exchange means.

Still another object of the invention is to positively direct the current or currents of air in a conditioner in predetermined paths or directions.

A further object of the invention is to control the time of contact or the amount of contact of the air to be conditioned with the conditioning area. I

A still further object of the invention is to vary the amount of the air stream in contact with the cooling medium to vary the air condition of the air stream.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a view in longitudinal section of a device embodying the principles of my invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a modified form of conditioning device.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of Figure 3 along the line 4, 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In carrying out my invention, I propose to pro vide a conditioning chamber i having cooling coils or cooling surfaces 2, 2', extending lengthwise of the conditioning chamber. The fresh air is admitted through conduit 3 and the return or recirculated air is admitted through conduit 4. Three series of dampers control the admission of fresh and return air to the conditioning chamber i. The dampers are separately controlled, the top dampers being 6, the middle dampers l, and the bottom dampers 8. The control may be either manual or automatic but is preferably manual. Dampers 6, I and 8 control the flow of air through the upper, intermediate and lower portions of the conditioning chamber, and the conditioning in the upper and lower portions may be regulated by manipulation of dampers, 9, Hi, and II, and 9, Ill, H. For instance, if it is desired to dehumidify the fresh air to a greater degree than the return air, the dampers 9, i0 and II, remain open, thereby permitting the stream of fresh air to pass over the entire length of the cooling surface 2 while the dampers 9, iii and I are closed, whereby return air passes over only a portion of the cooling surfaces 2'. In some cases the recirculated air may require greater dehumidification in which event, dampers 9', III and l i may be presenting the full lengths of the coils 2' to the recirculated air causing greater cooling and condensation. These dampers I preferably control automatically. The dampers 9, ill and II, are controlled by a wet bulb or hygrostat l2 and the lower dampersS', III, II, by a thermostat l3. The controls l2 and I3 operate through the usual pneumatic system. If desired, there may be separate controls on each of the dampers in order to increase the flexibility of the device. Chamber 34 forms a mixing chamber and the proportion of mixing is determined by the setting of dampers 6, l and 8. That is, if dampers 6 and 8 are open while dampers l are closed the mixing is the least and of small amount. I

Under certain conditions in the air space to be conditioned, the lower dampers 8 may be closed and the central dampers i opened as well as dampers G. In this case the return air will be differently routed, that is, the major portion will 'pass through the center of the apparatus and required and the fresh air will have full treatment or be only partially treated depending upon the automatic controls opening or shutting dampers 9, It] and ii, to route the fresh air either into conduit It or lengthwise of conditioning surfaces 2. With a constant volume fan and the constriction of passage It, the air will pass through passage or conduit I! with a higher velocity. As the movement of the air is increased the time and contact with the cooling surfaces is reduced. With this apparatus a wide latitude of control is established by the simple method of the control by movable baflles of the direction of flow of the air streams. If baffle is separately controlled the efiect of the cooling coils may be increased or decreased approximately one-third. In this way, considerable sensitivity can be secured.

With my invention, under certain conditions, artificial refrigeration is not required. If water is obtained from a deep well so that the temperature is below fifty degrees, the proper condensation of the humidity can be obtained and the cooling liquid is utilized at a constant temperature. Instead of varying the temperature of the cooling liquid the length of time of contact with the cooling surfaces is varied and the air to be conditioned is controlled with respect to its direction positively. The feature, of the control of the direction of the airs being conditioned by adjustable baflies, permits of an increased, efll-- ciency and a decrease in the initial costs as it avoids control valves for the coolant and reduces the amount of automatic controls; avoids the necessity of separate series of cooling surfaces and makes certain a more positive control of the fiow in the desired direction of the air being conditioned. Dampers 3', 4', control the proportions of fresh and return air.

In the modified form shown in Figures 3 and 4, the central passage or conduit I4 is removed and the fresh or return air may be routed through conduits l6, II, as desired to mixing chamber 15. The dampers H? are each manually set whereby the entering air streams may be controlled both as to volume and proportion, the latter by reason of stratification. Dampers I9, 20, I9, 20',-are automatically controlled similarly as in Figure 1. In operation, the fresh air may require greater dehumidification in which case dampers l9 and 20 will be open, closing aperture 2| and the return air, with dampers i9, 20', closed will pass through conduit i! into mixing chamber IE. it is necessary by reason of conditions the reverse may take place and the fresh air may pass up through aperture 2| into conduit I6 and thence into mixing chamber l5.

The removal of moisture from air by surface cooling is dependent upon three elements, that is, the area of the cooling surface in contact with the air, the time of contact and the temperature of the cooling surfaces. The control may be accomplished by variation of any one or more of the three means. By my invention, the area of contact of the cooling surface and the time of contact are varied by the directional control of the flow of the conditioned air. If the cooling liquid is varied in temperature a longer time element is required and a more complicated and expensive system of refrigeration is necessary. With my invention, artificial means of cooling may be dispensed with. A higher efiiciency is accomplished as well as a control of the conditioning by the routing of the air streams. This control is more sensitive in that the baffles and dampers are quickly adjusted while a time element is required to vary the temperature of the cooling liquid. Hence, where close temperature regulation is necessary such as in connection with the powder rooms on battleships and the like, my invention is particularly adapted for use. Various modifications may be made and still fall within the principles pf my invention.

What I claim is:

1. An air conditioning apparatus having a conditioning chamber, a heat control unit in the conditioning chamber, means for supplying conditioning medium to said heat control unit, a

fresh air inlet, a return air air inlet, means'for circulating air from said different inlets past and in contact with different portions of said heat control unit, and aplurality of individually adjustable baflle means located between the discharge ends of said inlets and the heat control unit, different of said individually ad stable bailie means being located in the path of di erent portions of the air circulated in contact with said heat control unit, said baflie means being adapted to control individually the flow of fresh air and return air past and in contact with said different unit portions respectively.

2. In an air conditioning apparatus of the character described, the combination of means forming a casing, heat exchange means within said casing, means for passing air to be conditioned through said casing and successively in thermal contact with first one portion of said heat exchange means and then another portion of said heat exchange means, means forming a bypass passage adapted to receive air from said casing, said passage bypassing said other portion of said heat exchange means and communicating at its outlet end with the outlet end of said casing, and means including adjustable bafile means for delivering to said passage from said casing air which has been in thermal contact with said first portion only of said heat exchange means, whereby the extent to which air may be conditioned by said apparatus may be controlled by routing air in contact with both portions of said heat exchange means or said first portion only thereof.

3. In an air conditioning apparatus of the character described, the combination of means forming a casing, heat exchange means within said casing comprising a first portion and a second portion, means for passing air to be conditioned through said casing and successively in thermal contact first with said first portion of said heat exchange means and then with said second portion of said heat exchange means, means for receiving air delivered from said casing and means for delivering air which has been in thermal contact with said first portion only of said heat exchange means to said air-receiving means in a course bypassing said second portion of said heat exchange means, said last-mentioned means including adjustable baflle means adapted to control said bypassing of air around said second portion of said heat exchange means, whereby the extent to which air may be conditioned by said apparatus may be controlled by controlling said bypassing of air, greater conditioning efiect being obtained by routing air in thermal contact with both said first and said second portions of said heat exchange means and lesser conditioning effect being obtained by bypassing around said second portion of said heat exchange means air which has been in thermal contact with said first portion only of said heat exchange means.

CLARENCE C. HUNICKE. 

